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Residents wait outside of their destroyed home in Mahahual in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Reuters photo by Henry Romero
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Puerto Costa Maya, the second busiest cruise port in Mexico, will be closed for at least half a year because of severe damage to the pier and the nearby village of Mahahual, where Hurricane Dean came ashore last week at full Category 5 strength.
Mahahual (also spelled Majahual), a remote community of just 200 residents on the Yucatán Peninsula's southern coast, was almost flattened by storm surge and sustained winds of 165 miles per hour. The only town to experience catastrophic damage from Dean, Mahahual has been a stop for more than 750,000 passengers per year arriving on cruise ships from every major line. Hundreds of buildings in the once-idyllic beachfront town were knocked down or ravaged during the storm, the center of which passed directly over Mahahual early Tuesday morning, Associated Press reported.
About 50 percent of the port complex - three ship berths, as well as pavilions for local and luxury shopping, a beach club, saltwater pools, entertainment center, restaurants and bars - was damaged by the hurricane, according to port spokesman Cesar Lizarraga. "An early estimate indicates the port will remain closed for six to eight months," he said.
Xcalak, the only other town beside Mahahual on the Xcalak peninsula, apparently had comparatively minimal damage. While there are no formal reports from the town, 45 miles south of Mahahual, posts and photos from Internet community boards LocoGringo.com and Xcalak.tv showed damage to structures and flooding, but not widespread destruction. Chetumal, the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and about 100 miles southwest of Mahahual, and the popular tourist city of Tulúm also suffered only minor flooding and wind damage and are expected to be back to normal quickly, according to Mexico officials.
San Miguel on the island of Cozumel, Mexico's busiest cruise port city, suffered catastrophic destruction during Hurricane Wilma in 2005, but it and nearby Cancún were spared damage this time as Dean took a southerly path and lost most of its power almost immediately after coming ashore.
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